A candid conversation with eminent film critic and author M.K. Raghavendra

For 1.2 billion Indians, cinema is synonymous with Bollywood - the popular moniker for the Hindi cinema. If Cricket is our nation's lifeline then surely Bollywood forms its DNA. No Indian, whether living in India or abroad, is left untouched by the razzmatazz that's become Hindi cinema's signature in the whole world over the last decade or so: Songs, Music, Dance, Crappy Action, and Cheesy Dialogue. But, has Hindi cinema always been the same? As they say, change is the only constant! Now, every change needs a stimulus of some kind or the other. There is no denying that the Hindi cinema experienced a metamorphosis of sorts around the turn of the millennium. But, has anyone ever tried to study or analyze this transmutation? If your curiosity has already started to get the better of you then rest assured that the eminent film critic, author and researcher M.K. Raghavendra's latest book, "The Politics of Hindi Cinema in the New Millennium: Bollywood and the Anglophone Indian Nation," is just for you!

I myself got so excited when I first heard about the book's theme that I just couldn't resist the temptation of directly contacting the eminent author. And, I must confess that I consider myself really fortunate to have got such a positive response from Mr. Raghavendra. He was kind enough to share his valuable thoughts on his latest book as well as the Hindi cinema at large.

Q). How did you think of this book?

A). For several years now I have been interested in the political
meaning of mainstream Hindi cinema. My first examination of this aspect was in
my book Seduced by the Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian
Popular Cinema (Oxford, 2008). It is well known now that
Hindi cinema played a big part in helping Indians imagine an entity binding
them together, i.e. the Indian nation. Hence, in Hindi cinema after 1947 (and
even before), you have national issues being indirectly represented – like Nehru’s
moves towards a modern India being represented – like the city in the films of
the 1950s being both the emblem of good modernity (thro’ the doctor and the dam
construction engineer) and bad modernity in the figure of the gambler and the
club dancer. The important films will be those like Andaz, Awaara, Baazi, Shree
420, Howrah Bridge, etc. Agrarian issues were dealt with in
films like Mother India, Naya Daur and Ganga
Jumna. This continued and the important historical moments dealt with by
Hindi cinema in different ways are those like independence, the disaster of the
Sino-Indian war, the green revolution of the mid-1960s, Mrs Gandhi’s rise in
the late 1960s, her populism in the 1970s and her defeat in 1977, the rise of
regional conflict in the 1980s through the Khalistan movement, etc, the economic
liberalization under PV Narasimha Rao and the advent of globalization. Hindi
cinema changed drastically after 1992 because that was when Nehruvian socialism
was abandoned and this shows in the poor no longer being the subjects of Hindi
film stories. But there was a greater change in the new millennium with
Indians in the cities gradually becoming closer to the West than to rural
India. This shows in Hindi cinema addressing not all of India as before but
English speaking Indians from the cities whose spending power increased with
the new economy. It is the increasing power of the English speaking Indian
which made Hindi cinema address an asymmetric nation as never before. This is
what I wanted to examine. But the political implications of the films have to
be dug out, interpreted. Just like when you are listening to someone talking,
you will not only listen to what he/she is saying but will also observe body
language. If your friend tells you he will give his life for you but leaves you
to pay the bill in the restaurant, what will you believe? Body, language will
often tell you whether to believe someone or not. Similarly, to get at
political meaning, you have to go underneath what is obvious.

Q). What is your approach?

A). I look chronologically at important films – in terms of their
earnings – and analyse them either individually or in groups for their hidden
political meaning. For instance, there are several films dealing with adultery
– from Jism to KANK. They constitute one group and Gadar: Ek Prem Kathaand Veer-Zara constitute
another. Similarly, sports films after Lagaan likeIqbal, Chak
De India, Paan Singh Tomar are a third group and films
about male friendship – Dil Chahta Hai and Zindagi Na
Milegi Dobara is is one more. Individual articles on
individual films like Rang De Basanti, Kaminey, Om Shanti Om are
also there. The socially conscious films of Madhur Bhadarkar are examined
together. The important thing is that the attitudes exhibited by the films
change gradually as they are examined chronologically.

Q). What are the changing tendencies?

A). Most importantly, Hindi cinema which was once very moral changes
with self interest gaining ground – shown as aspiration. Secondly, there an
increasing endorsement of criminality as a legitimate way to advance oneself.
Thirdly, it is as if the state is useless and it is made fun of or shown as not
worthy of respect. Fourthly, parents who were one highly respected become seen
as obstructions in the way of individual achievement and fifthly, urban India
becomes closer to the global world and rural India becomes distant. This is
also revealed by the attitudes of 3 Idiots being so different from
those of Dabangg. All these things - and many more like the
attitude towards farmers, politicians and politics, etc tell us many things
about what has happened to India after 2000.

Hindi cinema, because it is so popular, is not the work of the
director but it is the work of the audience speaking through the director. It
is the voice of the public – or at least that of an important section of the
public.

Book Description:

Popular Hindi cinema metamorphosed unrecognizably in the new millennium. An expanding urban middle-class viewer base, ever growing in its Anglophone cultural absorption, fuelled the multiplex boom at home. A slew of popular movies in tune with the sensitivities of the diasporic Indians came to define ‘Bollywood’ as a powerful global brand and a lifestyle banner. Another kind of mainstream cinema emerged in opposition to the dominant ‘elitist’ presence, a cinema meant less for multiplexes but still not ‘traditional’ in the old way. The Hindi film industry itself changed radically post 1990s, and so did the meanings, mores, and ideologies embedded in Hindi cinema.

Going beyond the conventional theory-laden mode of analysing the political moorings of mainstream cinema, M.K. Raghavendra accords primacy to their ‘text’, treating them as rich reflections of the goings on in contemporary society. Taking cinema and cinema-viewing as a conjoined site of enquiry, he brings together a revealing and enlightening analysis of 28 Hindi blockbusters from the 2000s. With a close reading of films such as Rang De Basanti, Veer-Zaara, Bunty Aur Babli, 3 Idiots, Dabangg, Rajneeti, and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Raghavendra untangles the threads of myriad new imaginaries of contemporary India and Indian-ness, embedded in a transformed Bollywood.

Contents:

Preface

Introduction

The Global and the Pre-Modern Raaz (2002)

The Adulterous Woman Jism (2003) to Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006)

'Undivided India' Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) and Veer-Zara (2004)

The Youth Film as Dissent Rang de Basanti (2006) and the Political Class

All in all, it's a must read book for cinema enthusiasts and aficionados alike. It is available on:

1). Amazon.COM

2). Flipkart.COM

3). Amazon.IN

About the Author:

M.K. Raghavendra is an eminent film critic and researcher and has been the recipient of the National Award for the Best Film Critic, the Swarna Kamal, in 1997. His most prominent publications include Seduced by the Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema (OUP 2008) and Bipolar Identity: Region, Nation, and the Kannada Language Film (OUP 2011).

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comments:

Mr. Raghavendra has a great reputation as an author and a film critic par-excellence. I myself am an avid reader of his works, especially his extremely well researched film reviews and essays... one can only expect the best from someone as erudite as Mr. Raghavendra.

Your review, brilliant as always, is a perfect analysis of a great film (still the best I've seen this year) and I agree with all you say. We are definitely on the same wavelength here. I just wish I had been able to see this film with you my friend

Great review Mohammad - Boyhood is my film of the year and would make my top 20 films of all time - never been so taken aback with a film that has little in an actual plot but by the end of it I literally felt like I knew these people and that Ellar was like a distant cousin :) Here is my lovefest for it - http://saltypopcorn.com.au/reviews/boyhood/ :)

Thanks Jason... I am really glad that you too enjoyed the film as much as I did!!! All these characters were so lifelike that it never appeared to me that I was actually watching a movie... that's exactly where Linklater scores higher than his contemporaries... his has this uncanny knack of making the viewers a part of the narrative.

Btw, thanks for sharing the link... I just can't wait to read your analysis!!! :-)

brilliant writing thr, It was close to perfect writing for a close to perfect movie. Definitely its nostalgic, it is very unique film-making, 10/10 for that film-making technique and patience required for it. Said that, I found drama at its core little underwhelming(not that I was expecting something out of the box), but when someone hails it as one of the best movie of decade, I expect more on that front. I too agree with rating 9/10.

Thanks for those kind words, Nafees... the movie is absolutely brilliant on the film-making front but I agree that the plot is quite straight forward and it never really allows the elements of drama to stand out on their own. So, in that sense, it's somewhat like a documentary. But, overall, it makes for a great work viewing, especially for a student of cinema.

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Murtaza Ali Khan is an independent film critic / journalist based out of New Delhi, India. He has been writing on cinema for over seven years. He runs the award-winning entertainment blog A Potpourri of Vestiges. He is also the Films Editor at the New York City-based publication Cafe Dissensus and regularly contributes to The Hindu and The Sunday Guardian. He was previously a columnist at Huff Post. He has also contributed to publications like DailyO, Newslaundry, The Quint, Dear Cinema, Desimartini and Jamuura Blog. He regularly appears as a guest panelist on the various television channels and is also associated with radio.